City releases eleventh "ResultsNOLA" quarterly report

November 27, 2013

NEW ORLEANS, LA – Today, in keeping with his commitment to improve efficiency and effectiveness in City government, Mayor Mitch Landrieu released the ResultsNOLA report on performance in the third quarter of 2013. This is the City’s eleventh comprehensive performance report.

"As we strive to focus our resources on our top priorities, we have to set goals, track performance and get results,” Mayor Landrieu said. “We will continue to evaluate the data in these reports to improve services for our citizens."

The City issues quarterly ResultsNOLA reports that outline goals and progress towards meeting those goals.

The third quarter report includes key performance results for all departments, as well as the City resources budgeted to achieve the results. It also includes budget and performance information for other organizations that received an appropriation from the City, including criminal justice agencies.

This year, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) assessed the City’s performance management program, and in June, ICMA announced that the City of New Orleans, for the first time, was being recognized for superior performance management efforts with a Certificate of Distinction from the ICMA Center for Performance Measurement.

“This recognition is validation of the hard work of employees throughout City government, and we have a lot to be proud of,” Mayor Landrieu said.

The easy to understand report shows that City organizations met or exceeded a majority of performance targets. Among other highlights:

Homicides were down nearly 33% in the third quarter of this year – July 1 to September 30 – compared to the third quarter of 2012, and nearly 25% from January 1 to September 30, compared to the same period last year.

The approximately 95% of streetlights functioning at the end of the quarter was the highest since Hurricane Katrina.

The City continued its aggressive fight against blight, strengthening the City’s enforcement capabilities and exceeding the target number of blighted properties brought into compliance.

The City continued to exceed the target percentage of capital projects delivered on schedule, and in the third quarter opened Norwood Thompson Playground and St. Roch Park.

Mayor Landrieu has committed to dramatically improving the accountability, transparency and performance of New Orleans City government. In January 2011, Mayor Landrieu created the Office of Performance and Accountability (OPA) to implement a performance management system in which the City sets goals, tracks performance, and gets better results through data-driven management decision-making and accountability to citizens.

In addition to the ResultsNOLA report, OPA developed a series of monthly STAT programs, or data-driven performance review meetings, for key initiatives. BlightSTAT, QualityofLifeSTAT, BottomLineSTAT and ReqtoCheckSTAT meetings are open to the public. In October, the City launched CustomerServices STAT to review key performance results related to customer service.